The private forces of the nobles in Canas were blocked on the mountain path for four whole days, unable to advance an inch. The night attack planned on the first night was supposed to be a 100% success, but no one expected the enemy to be prepared for it.
They cut off the mountain path and dug a huge pit, trapping over two hundred elites in it and causing them to fall into the valley.
At daybreak, the nobles sent people down the valley to search for them, but they only managed to save around fifty heavily injured survivors.
The blow to the head finally woke the Canas nobles who had been thinking of robbing and getting rich. They understood that if they wanted to plunder the three southern prefectures, they had to pass through the bend in the road ahead and defeat the enemy defending Squirrel Village.
Unfortunately, no matter how hard they tried, they still couldn't get close to Squirrel Village's defences. Apart from an additional five to six hundred casualties, the only thing they learned was that there wasn't just one pit in the mountain path ahead.
The pit on the road couldn't be filled. The bottom of the pit was empty and connected to the valley on the side. The soil and rocks thrown in would fall into the valley.
Even if they wanted to fill the pit, they couldn't send people to do it. As soon as they rushed past the bend, the people carrying the soil and rocks would become targets for the enemy and be shot down one by one by the defences.
The only time they could make use of was at night. Under the cover of darkness, the accuracy of the enemy's muskets would be reduced.
What troubled the nobles was that they had to light torches to illuminate the area at night, or they wouldn't be able to see clearly.
However, lighting a torch was equivalent to pointing the enemy in the right direction. Under the light of the torch, the enemy could clearly see what they were doing.
The mountain path was a little narrow to begin with, especially at the bend. Many people were needed to tie the logs into rafts and lay them on top of the pit.
However, they were immediately bombarded by the enemy's cannons when moving the rafts around the bend. The rafts that they had painstakingly cut down from afar were blasted into the valley by the cannons and dozens of people were injured or killed.
The second time they moved the rafts, they didn't light up the torches.
In the end, a few porters in front missed their footing when they turned a corner and tumbled into the valley along with their wooden rafts. The few nobles in charge of supervising the porters were so angry that their hard work for most of the night had been in vain.
However, there was nothing they could do about it. The food that the people in charge of transporting the food was not as nutritious as that of the nobles in the territory. It was already good enough that they could fill their stomachs. Most of the people in the territory suffered from night blindness, so it was normal for them to be unable to see clearly in the dark.
In the end, it was the Baron of Kunrona, who came from the army, who came up with an idea. Instead of using a log raft, they recruited carpenters to make some light ladders. Crawling over the ground at night, they laid the ladders on top of the pit and covered it with planks so that they could cross over.
Although it wasn't as sturdy as a log raft, it wasn't easy for people to walk over.
Count Leucard once again organized a night raid, selecting a hundred elites from his own subjects and guards. The nobles of other territories also gathered a hundred men.
Two hundred Scimitar Warriors, who could see clearly at night, once again charged at the enemy's defensive position in Squirrel Village.
However, they had only run less than forty steps when the road in front of them collapsed again, and another pit appeared on the mountain road.
However, they were lucky this time. Only about thirty people fell into the pit, and the few who fell later were simply knocked down by the people behind them who couldn't stop in time.
What was even more fortunate was that the pit was not connected to the valley by the mountain road. It was a real pit.
However, the bottom of the pit was densely packed with sharpened branches and wooden spears. The people who fell in were either dead or injured. Screams and cries for help intertwined, and the smell of blood assailed the nostrils.
The silver moon just happened to reveal its face from the clouds, and the pale moonlight revealed the scene in the pit in front of the warriors at the edge of the pit.
The thirty or so unlucky people who fell in were piled up at the bottom of the pit. Their bodies were pierced by long, sharp branches and wooden spears, and even a wooden spear had pierced through three or four people's bodies. They looked like dead fish waiting to be barbecued.
A few unlucky people twisted their bodies on the branches and spears, trying to pull the spears out, but they couldn't do it.
The smell of blood grew stronger, and the screams and cries for help grew softer. Some of the Scimitar Warriors were so agitated by what they saw that they broke down. Someone screamed and ran, and the rest turned and followed.
The soldiers in the defensive position fired at them with all their might, but only about twenty of them survived.
None of the nobles suggested a night attack anymore. From the bend to the enemy's defensive position in Squirrel Village, the total length of the mountain road was about three hundred metres.
Now, he had discovered that there were two large pit traps on the mountain path about a hundred meters ahead.
That meant there were at least three or four pits waiting for them in the remaining hundred and eighty metres.
Who knew how many casualties there would be if they tried to fill the pits or set up wooden ladders or something like that within the range of the cannons and muskets.
Perhaps half of the four thousand people would have to go in, and the worst part was that they could only take the beating without being able to retaliate.
In four days, the Canasian nobles had already lost around eight hundred people, almost twenty percent of their entire force.
If there were another ten percent more casualties, the rest of them would definitely collapse. After all, the people who had applied for conscription were preparing to make a fortune in the three southern prefectures. They didn't expect to die in Squirrel Village.
Now, the Canasian nobles were suppressing their own forces and trying their best to prevent their subordinates from fleeing in the middle of the night.
On the other hand, they were pinning their hopes on the Askilinian nobles, hoping that they could reach the enemy's defensive position in Squirrel Village as soon as possible and rescue them.
However, a spy sent to contact them returned overnight to report that the Askilinian nobles had been ambushed by the enemy and suffered heavy casualties. They were also being held up on the mountain road.
There were only a thousand or so Askilinian nobles and they set off a day later than the Canasian ones.
However, it was worth noting that the thousand-odd men were made up of the private armies of the various noble families. Most of them were equipped with flintlocks. There were also four light cannons, similar to the one Ledefonk had given Claude. Their combat effectiveness was rather decent.
Unlike the Canas nobles, the Askilinian nobles strictly followed the marching rules and sent out a small scout team to act as the vanguard. They were a kilometer away from the main army.
As per Claude's orders, Dyavid set his sights on the scouting party and set up an ambush to wipe them out.
By the time the main force of the Askilinian nobles arrived, the ten or so soldiers who served as scouts were already corpses lying on the ground. Their muskets and valuables had all been swept clean.
While the nobles were furious, they knew that the enemy hadn't retreated as they had expected. Instead, they took the initiative to attack, so they couldn't help but be more cautious.
After cleaning up the corpses, they sent a platoon of scouts to keep a distance of half a kilometer from the main force to provide support.
Seeing that the enemy had changed their marching method, Dyavid changed his ambush method as well. He had his soldiers form groups of three and hide by the side of the road. After a round of attacks, they would immediately retreat and not give the enemy a chance to retaliate.
Such ambushes were a pain for the Askilinian nobles. The enemy no longer only targeted the scouts at the front. They would sometimes let the scouts off to ambush the main force at the back.
One of the more unlucky nobles was riding on a horse and dressed rather fancily. As a result, he became the target of the enemy's sneak attack. Three muskets were aimed at him, and the unlucky nobleman was shot twice. He fell from his horse and breathed his last.
The three ambushers leapt up and ran for their lives from a hundred meters away. The nobles fired two volleys of muskets, but they weren't able to hit them due to lack of preparation.
In a fit of rage, they sent a platoon of soldiers to chase after them. In the end, the platoon was lured into Dyavid's ambush and was almost wiped out by the three squads.
Had it not been for the nobles sensing something amiss from the continuous gunfire and sending two platoons to force Dyavid to retreat, less than ten soldiers from the poor platoon would've survived.
When they set up camp that night, the Askilinian nobles found that they had suffered around 80 casualties that day, while the enemy only suffered four or five casualties.
That made them feel like they had kicked a metal plate. The noble who died in the ambush also taught them a lesson. They couldn't be too outstanding and become the target of ambushers.
The next day, all the nobles changed into their old military uniforms and tried their best to blend in with their soldiers.
Over the past three days, the nobles had only traveled less than eighty miles on the mountain path. Those sneaky ambushers were too abominable. In these three days, they had caused nearly two hundred casualties to the nobles' private armed forces.
It wasn't that the nobles didn't think of ways to retaliate, but their muskets were far inferior to the enemy's in terms of functionality and practicality.
In order to pose a threat to the enemy, they had to line up their soldiers and fire in unison, but that would often make them easy targets for the enemy to aim at.
The Aubass Mark III standard firearm's maximum firing range could reach a distance of 380 meters. Two hundred and forty meters was the effective damage range, meaning that the damage was the greatest within this range.
The effective range of a well-aimed shot was around 100 to 120 meters. Any further and the shot would easily miss.
So, if the Askilinian nobles ordered their soldiers to line up and fire in unison against the ambushers, they would fall right into Dyavid's trap.
This was because he had ordered his soldiers to form groups of three to ambush the enemy. Each group would be accompanied by one or two groups of reinforcements.
The first group would immediately retreat after the ambush. When the enemy lined up and prepared to fire in unison, they would become the target of the other two groups.
As long as the muzzle was held down, they would have a 50% chance of hitting their target from 200 meters away.
For the nobles of the Askilin Duchy, they were now in a very awkward and dangerous situation.
It wasn't that they couldn't deal with these small groups of enemies. As long as they were willing to suffer casualties, they could have their soldiers chase after the enemy in platoons and attack from different directions at the same time. They could support each other and not give up until they reached their goal. Even if there were more casualties, they could still wipe out these flea-like enemies.
However, no one was willing to come up with this idea. The thousand or so soldiers were the private forces of the various nobles and the military force of their families.
None of the nobles were willing to sacrifice their private forces just like that. They all hoped that someone else would step forward to protect their family's military force.
The next three days were torturous. All the nobles hoped that the Canasian nobles could take over Squirrel Village first. That way, the ambushers would retreat on their own.
Dyavid's platoon was exhausted as well. They had been running all over the mountains for the past three days and were more exhausted than the enemy.
Fortunately, their actions were effective in delaying the enemy's march, and they reaped a good harvest. They did not suffer many casualties, only one unlucky soldier was sacrificed, and seven or eight were injured. Now, there were still three squads that were at full strength.
So, he decided to rest for a day and monitor the enemy from afar. He wanted his soldiers to recover some stamina and spirit before continuing with the ambush.
What he didn't expect, however, was that the enemy didn't leave and stayed in the camp they set up the day before.
He waited for a day and the same thing happened the next day.
That puzzled him and he sent someone to inform Claude to see what the enemy was up to.
Claude was woken up by Myjack the moment he fell asleep. He had been staying up all night to deal with the enemy's attacks and only slept during the day.
The Canasian nobles had always attacked at night and only probed the enemy a few times during the day. They knew that attacking during the day would only make their soldiers easy targets.
But now that they discovered a huge pit in the mountain path ahead, they stopped for the night.
Myjack woke Claude up because the Canasian nobles had retreated. When he opened the window, he saw a large group of people making their way back.
Through the telescope, he could see the farmers and herdsmen in tattered clothes and wielding all sorts of weapons shuffling along the mountain path with their heads hung low.
The cheers of the soldiers could be heard from the camp.
When they first saw a large group of enemies coming from the mountain path in the distance, all the soldiers broke out in a cold sweat. The difference in numbers between them and the enemy was too big. No one expected that they would really be able to block the enemies at the bend, and not a single one of them died.
When Claude received the news from Dyavid's messenger, he didn't think much of it. It was likely that the Askilinian nobles had received news of the Canasian nobles' retreat, so they stopped their advance and were probably discussing countermeasures.
If they were lucky, they would retreat and he would be able to hold the important checkpoint that was Squirrel Village.
The next day, however, Dyavid sent an urgent messenger with new news. Everyone jumped in fright.
Dyavid's report said that the Canasian nobles hadn't retreated. Instead, they had gone to the mountain path on the Askilinian side and joined forces.